SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
Serengeti National Park is undoubtedly the
best-known wildlife sanctuary in the world, unequalled for
its natural beauty and scientific value. Tanzania's oldest
and most popular national park, the Serengeti is famed for
its annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the
open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's
gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing.
Yet even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers
arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great
herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe,
and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala
and Grant’s gazelle.
The name 'Serengeti' comes from the Maasai language and appropriately
means an 'extended place'. The National Park, is as big as
Northern Ireland, but its ecosystem, which includes the Ngorongoro
Conservation Area, the Maswa Game Reserve and the Maasai Mara
Game reserve (in Kenya), is roughly the size of Kuwait. It
lies between the shores of Lake Victoria in the west, Lake
Eyasi in the south, and the Great Rift Valley to the east.
As such, it offers the most complex and least disturbed ecosystem
on earth.
Serengeti National park covers 14,763 sq km of endless rolling
plains , which reach up to the Kenyan border and extends almost
to Lake Victoria. The park is teaming with stunning wildlife
- it is thought that over 3 million large mammals roam the
plains. In May or early June you can witness the annual migration
of millions of zebra and wildebeest in search of water and
forage as the seasons change.
The first professional hunters came in 1913. They found the
wildlife plentiful, especially the lions, but saw no elephants.
Seven years later, an American arrived in a strange new contraption
known as a Ford motor-car and news of the wonders of the Serengeti
had reached the outside world. Because the hunting of lions
made them so scarse (they were considered 'vermin'), it was
decided to make a partial Game Reserve in the area in 1921
and a full one in 1929. With the growing awareness of the
need for conservation, it was expanded and upgraded to a National
Park in 1951. Eight years later the Ngorongoro Conservation
Area was established in the south-east as a separate unit.
Fauna and Flora
Serengeti National Park has unique combination of diverse
habitats enables it to support more than 30 species of large
harbivores and nearly 500 species of birds. Its landscape,
originally formed by volcanic activity, has been sculptured
by the concerted action of wind, rain and sun. It now varies
from open grass plains in the south, savannah with scattered
acacia trees in the centre, hilly, wooded grassland in the
north, to extensive woodland and black clay plains to the
west. Small rivers, lakes and swamps are scattered throughout.
In the south-east rise the great volcanic massifs and craters
of the Ngorongoro Highlands. Each area has its own particular
atmosphere and wildlife.
Large herds of antelope of all sorts including: Patterson's
eland, Klipspringer, Dikdik, impala, Zebra, gazelles, water,
bush and reed buck, topi, kongoni, cotton's oribi, grey bush
duiker, roan antelope buffalo, and wildebeest. lion, leopard,
cheetah, hyena, bat eared fox, hunting dog and jackal. Smaller
mammals: spring hare, porcupine, warthog, hyraxes, baboon,
vervet monkey, colobus monkey, patas monkey, and mongooses.
Larger mammals: giraffe, rhino, elephant, and hippopotamus.
Nearly 500 species of birds, including vultures, storks, flamingoes,
martial and fish eagles, ostrich era also available. Reptiles:
crocodiles, a number of species of snakes and lizards.
The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates Tanzania’s
greatest park. Golden-maned lion prides feast on the abundance
of plain grazers. Solitary leopards haunt the acacia trees
lining the Seronera River, while a high density of cheetahs
prowls the southeastern plains. Almost uniquely, all three
African jackal species occur here, alongside the spotted hyena
and a host of more elusive small predators, ranging from the
insectivorous aardwolf to the beautiful serval cat.
But there is more to Serengeti than large mammals. Gaudy agama
lizards and rock hyraxes scuffle around the surfaces of the
park’s isolated granite koppies. A full 100 varieties
of dung beetle have been recorded, as have 500-plus bird species,
ranging from the outsized ostrich and bizarre secretary bird
of the open grassland, to the black eagles that soar effortlessly
above the Lobo Hills.
The Serengeti's climate is usually warm and dry. The main
rainy season is from March to May, with short rains falling
from October to November. The amount of rainfall increases
from about 508mm on the plains in the lee of the Ngorongoro
Highlands to about 1,200mm on the shores of Lake Victoria.
All is lush and green after the rains, but a gradual drying
up follows which restricts plant growth and encourages the
animals to migrate in search of permanent waters. With altitudes
ranging from 920 to 1,850 metres - higher than most of Europe
- mean temperatures vary from 15 degrees to 25 degrees Celsius.
It is coldest from June to October, particularly in the evenings.
For centuries, the vast wilderness of the Serengeti Plains
remained virtually unhabitated but about hundred years ago
the nomadic Maasai came down from the north with their cattle.
The first European to set foot in the area was the German
explorer and naturalist Dr. Oscar Baumann, who passed by as
an agent of the German Anti-Slavery Committee on his way to
Burundi. His compatriots who built Fort Ikoma in the north,
which was used as an administrative centre until it fell to
the British in 1917, followed him.
Accommodation
There are a number of lodges and camps to stay at in the Serengeti.
Lodges: Seronera Wildlife Lodge, Lobo Wildlife Lodge, Ndutu
Safari Lodge (near Olduvai Gorge) Serengeti Serena Lodge,
and Serengeti Sopa Lodge. Camps: Kijesereshi Tented lodge
just outside the camp south of Nsabaaka Gate (north west of
the Park) and Migration camp around the Lobo area. There are
public camp sites (very basic some without even water), 6
special camp sites and 12 wilderness camp sites.